Kotiora - Κοτύωρα - Ordu

KOTIORA - ΚΟΤΥΩΡΑ - ORDU

Kotiora (Ordu in Turkish) is a seaside town which dates back to Ancient times. There is a reference in Homer's Iliad in which it is referred to as Kitoros. In ancient times and before the Persians. the town enjoyed it's own independence, as it did during the reign of the Kingdon of Pontos. Today's Kotiora is believed to have been built on the ancient town due to the presence of many ancient relics in the area.

Many people of Chaldia abandoned their houses and moved into Kotiora during Turkish rule and the city enjoyed a steady influx of population and in particular from the middle of the 19th century and beyond. At the start of the 20th century, Kotiora had a population of 12,000 of which half were Greek and the rest were either Turkish or Armenian.

On the 19th of August 1917, Russia bombarded the city and many Greeks fled with them to Russia. 2 months later, the Turks dislodged the Greeks of Kotiora. Of 6000 Greeks, only 2500 managed to flee to Trapezounta and to the Caucasus. The rest were tranported to Sevasteia (Sivas) and to Kastamoni where they were sent to do hard labour and subsequently perished. The rest ended up in Greece after the exchange of populations in 1923.

In the municipality of Ipapantis the Psomiadeios School exists. In the municipality of Agios Nikolaos was the School of Karipideios founded by Hatzi Haralambos Karipidis. There was also a Greek school in the municipality of Agios Georgios.

The Church of Ipapantis

Around the middle of the 19th century in Ordu there existed 600 Greek families, 150 Armenian and 350 Turkish. The Greeks maintained their own Greek school and 2 correspondence schools. In 1869 Konstantinos Psomiadis built with his own funds a school to incorporate all these schools into one. The building "Psomeiados School" was overseen and built with the assistance of architect Iosif Tipaldou who was from Cephallonia.

The Greeks of Ordu lived in 2 parishes. One parish consisted of Greeks who had lived there for many years, and the second parish consisted of Greeks who had migrated from Chaldia.

The city of Poulantzaki was formed from the miners who migrated from Chaldia, and consisted of 350 houses all of which were Greek. Ιn Poulantzaki there also existed the church of St George, a correspondence school and a Greek school.